Despising Franchises: Is it Personal?

The puck drifts across the goal line, and I cringe. My blood pressure starts to rise, and I can feel the pulsating in my forehead.

I know what is coming, but it pains every time like its the first time.

"HOOOOOWWWWWWLLLLLLLLLLLL!"

By some chance should the Coyotes actually score more than say, two goals, that's two more times I have to listen to that nonsense. Its a joke. It kills any credibility of being nothing more than an ice sideshow for kids.

But what can I say?

I reside in Phoenix, and when I need my hockey fix, its the only NHL gig in town.

It's not so much that I completely hate the franchise. I hate the fact that they're not really the Phoenix Coyotes at all.

To me, they're the Winnipeg Jets. They're the team I hated watching the Kings play against on Prime Ticket because the ice always looked blue.

They had guys that would kill us like Selanne, Zhamnov, and Tkachuk. They're the team I wish was still in Winnipeg.

Which makes me really think of the teams I truly despise, and they're one common denominator: They're all teams that traded in their old duds and fans and went out and got new ones.

And before anyone delves into the circumstances of said teams moves, this isn't about that. I'm not hearing the issues surrounding a new stadium, or attendance.

We're talking grassroots disdain here—nothing more.

And how bout' them Stars? (JJ reference to the 90's Cowboys.) How can you move a team from the mecca of blue-collar American hockey players to, of all places, the Big D?

I mean, the North Stars, people!

To think then they had to be awarded an expansion team and call themselves the Wild.

A truly iconic team, home to arguably the best US players to lace 'em up, moved to Texas? I think the worst thing in the world is trying to get schooled by some Dallas fan who "became a fan when they moved here."

Sorry pal, but you have no soul.

Carolina Whalers? I won't lay into them too bad since they're in a conference I rarely see, but I did cringe during the playoffs when former Steelers head coach Bill Cowher was being interviewed in the stands preaching his love and the fans love for the Hurricanes.

Really?

In all fairness, don't you the reader feel that the die-hards in Hartford were ripped off when the Canes hoisted the Cup?

Ultimately, I'm all for hockey fans. I'm all for new fans, and exposure to new markets. But not at the cost of the history and the fans left behind.

I won't delve into the expansion teams—at least there history is their own (although I despise a few of them as well.)